Gatekeeper of Salvation (2)

Gatekeeper of Salvation (2) — Hanmaum Guwon Cult, 3rd Floor

The rooms for the believers who had joined us from Star Light Church were, at long last, complete. I watched on the minimap as the final Believer's Room went up in the residential quarter. As for the handover, Lee Gyeongmin and Jeong Shinwoo, waiting on standby on the first floor, would manage just fine without me—my work here was done.

With that, everyone except Kim Eunbyeol, who roomed with her son, now had a private living space to call their own, and the total membership of the Hanmaum Guwon Cult stood at exactly '76'.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Compared to the early days, when the Believer Management window had embarrassed me with nothing on it but a lone Yoon Ayoung, this was a sea change if there ever was one.

That's right. It takes a flock this size before you can even hand out a business card that says Cult Leader.

Pride nodded my head along for me, but we were still far from the summit. My Hanmaum Guwon Cult had long since outgrown any size that could be satisfied with this much.

"I'm still hungry."

"Mmmngh~ what is it?"

A sweet, nasal voice answered me, and with it came the fresh scent of shampoo drawing near. Joo Joohye, dressed in her Awakened Believer robes, hung off me in my chair like a cicada clinging to a tree. Her ponytail swayed where her face was buried against my nape, tempting my eyes, and I sucked hard at the porcelain-pale shoulders glowing beneath the deer-graceful line of her neck, at the fine downy hairs.

Smooch—

"Mmmngh―"

As though playing a body trembling with rapture like an instrument, I kept carving kiss marks into her shoulder.

"Mmmngh― that tickles― it tickleeees―"

Even as she fussed in a melted, honeyed nasal whine, I could feel her long legs blatantly rubbing themselves against me. The moment she felt my 'thing' starting to stiffen, Joo Joohye's expression lit up with a suggestive gleam.

"Gonna eat Joohye up right now? ...Daddy?"

"Nnnnngh― wh-what an unholy thing to say, Sister Joo Joohye!"

As the mood steamed up ever further, Yoon Ayoung's pointed cry burst out. Her pudding-quivering breasts seemed to testify to exactly how she felt.

"A gr-grown woman clinging disgustingly all over her oppa and calling him Daddy! Th-that's filthy!"

With a dismissive tsk—, Joo Joohye ignored the outburst and buried her face in my nape once more. When I gently patted her back as she went sniff—sniff— at my scent, she began nuzzling and sucking at my neck like she was angling for affection.

Feeling the ticklish pleasure of it, I paused a beat to referee the overheating situation.

"Try to understand her, Ayoung. She's only been one of the Salvation Cult's own for a little while. You know that better than anyone, don't you?"

"O-of course! Y-you do know I'm not angry at you, oppa, right?"

With a soft smile for the startled, squirming Yoon Ayoung, I turned back to soothing the one in my arms.

"If Joohye's the daughter, then our Ayoung can be the mommy!"

"Tsk― true, that works. Old mommy~"

"Eeeeek―!"

At Joo Joohye's jab, pitched loud as if deliberately for her to hear, Yoon Ayoung's breasts started pudding-quivering all over again.

Uh... this wasn't quite how I'd steered things? Women's verbal skills really do develop in some terrifying directions.

Hiding my fluster, I eased Joo Joohye off me a little and fixed her with a stern look. Her eyes, which had been dodging mine the whole time, went glassy with moisture.

"Sniffle— sniff-sniffle—"

Clutching the hem of my robe, desperately fighting back tears, she looked for all the world like a textbook daughter being scolded by her daddy.

"...Do you know what you did wrong?"

"Sniffle— Yeees― I was bad."

I couldn't hold back a laugh at the adorable little nod that came with it. Who would ever guess that this woman had once screamed herself hoarse with venomous spite, cursing me out in the prayer room? It was nothing short of a person's entire psyche rebuilt from the studs.

"Now then, hurry up and apologize."

"...I'm sorry, Sister Yoon Ayoung."

"Ah-ah!"

"...I'm sorry, Saintess."

"There we go. Well done, my daughter."

With the apology safely concluded, I gathered her back into my arms and asked Yoon Ayoung sweetly,

"Is our Ayoung going to stay all pouty like that tonight, too?"

"......Oh! N-no! Absolutely not, oppa!"

I'd spent the meeting hours with Joohye, so naturally the night belonged to Ayoung. Watching Yoon Ayoung dissolve into silly giggles and Joo Joohye keep burrowing into my chest, rubbing her cheek against it, my heart couldn't help but swell, vast and magnificent.

It was fun—simply spectating the bickering between these two beauties. Squabbles like these, kept strictly within limits I could control, were the fizzing spice that made life pop. Truth be told, I'd anticipated these collisions from the very start. The object of their worship was, to be precise, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me—not one another. No doubt, as our executives—just three, at present—multiplied, the clashes would only grow more frequent. But the very fact that they fought was proof their own 'individuality' was alive and well. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠A luxury no amount of one-way 'brainwashing' could ever buy. A privilege of the 'Cult Leader' that only I could pull off.

Living, breathing women, every last one of them beneath my feet. Submitting to my word, starving for my love.

Fuck, long live the zombie apocalypse!

Of course, once the executives multiplied we'd need rules and a clearly defined pecking order—but that wouldn't require me to rack my brain over it.

Seong Gaeul, catching the full heat of my gaze, scrunched her face up tight.

"Leave me out of those childish little spats. Don't tell me you actually expect me to carry on like that?"

"...Oh."

I pictured it: that aloof face of hers drenched in a deep flush as she clung to me, gazing up through slightly uptilted eyes, whispering softly.

'...Daddy.'

......Okay, that's seriously hot?

Seong Gaeul's expression turned stranger still as she watched me drift off into fantasy. With a long sigh of surrender, she waved the paper in her hand and asked,

"Could we maybe get to the serious talk now?"

"Ah, of course."

I eased my slouched body upright in the chair. Joo Joohye, too, released the body she'd had in a tight squeeze and turned to face forward. While I enjoyed the sight of her resting her head against my chest, legs swaying lazily to and fro, Seong Gaeul spoke. Dense columns of numbers covered the paper she waved. As the believers kept multiplying, maintenance costs were shooting up in equal measure—a private Believer's Room for every individual, and three meals a day, generous ones.

Then there were all the assorted facilities essential to keeping the lights on, the water clean, and the waste handled.

Faith held, dwindling in proportion to the swelling production. More believers did not mean an endless parade of upsides.

"Of course, we've installed every facility that can be installed, so there's nowhere left for the money to drain out—but the Faith production of the believers from Star Light Church hasn't hit its ceiling yet, either."

"That's true. Still... it's also a fact that there's a bit of a bubble in your Faith production."

She was dead right, no arguing it. As the believer count climbs, Faith production climbs with it—but the upkeep costs climb right alongside. That alone already made me rich beyond complaint, but her words hadn't been mere grumbling. What she meant was that this flock, assembled at such punishing expense, ought to be put to use more efficiently.

"There'll be a use for it someday, guaranteed. Humanity hasn't huddled together in groups all these years for nothing. And besides... now that we've even got a stable influx route."

I ran my hand gently down the ponytail of the believer who had completed her second awakening. When I touched Joo Joohye in Believer Management, her status window floated up before me.

Just as Yoon Ayoung had been reborn a Saintess, Joo Joohye too had been born anew as the Salvation Cult's Gatekeeper. Set beside a Saintess, the Gatekeeper class might look a touch underwhelming, but it was nothing of the sort. Yoon Ayoung's 'Prophecy', evolved from her old 'Crisis Detection', was plenty broken on its own—but Joo Joohye's skill had likewise evolved into exactly what the Salvation Cult needed most at this very moment.

Gate of Salvation.

A stunningly simple skill: open a gate to the Sanctuary for whoever yearns for salvation. But the returns this simple skill would deliver were beyond what I dared to imagine. Namely this—I no longer had to go out and pick people up one by one; a steady stream of souls was now guaranteed to walk into the Sanctuary on their own. An upgrade to the stable influx route. The problem Seong Gaeul had been singing about so tirelessly, solved in an instant by a single Gatekeeper skill.

"Hmm... so how do I max that one out for her?"

I wanted to punch a skill that useful straight up to level 20 on the spot, but no suitable method came to mind. Or was I supposed to shove a gun or a grenade into her hands, like those Sergeant Kim bastards used to do?

Come to think of it, I also couldn't recall the last time I'd checked Ayoung's status window. In the Believer Management window, I touched Yoon Ayoung, seated right above Joo Joohye.

"...Huh?"

The Faith Points recorded on Yoon Ayoung's status window were anything but ordinary. Six thousand, was it?

"Hm? Ehehehehe―"

She, who had been a blushing wreck, grinned impishly at me. No—on closer look, her eyes weren't aimed at me at all, but at Joo Joohye leaning against me.

"It's nothing! I just pray to oppa every single day, pray at mealtimes, and pray again before bed, that's all!"

"Eeek―!"

"Oh! Gaeul! How much have you been generating?"

At my question, Seong Gaeul gave an incredulous laugh.

"Did you forget I'm the only one here who isn't Awakened?"

Ah, right. Seong Gaeul wasn't Awakened. A fact I could never quite get used to, no matter how many times it came up. With an awkward laugh, I scratched my head and studied her—her mouth silently mouthing idiot?, her hand twirling in circles beside her temple. Now that she was almost permanently attached to my side, I could read it at a glance: her current reaction, for all her pretending otherwise, was seriously worked up. In the executive office, she alone was no Awakened.

"Joohye, hold on a second."

"Mmm?"

I settled Joo Joohye, who had been leaning against me, into the chair on my left. Then I beamed and beckoned to Seong Gaeul.

"...Wh-what now."

"Tut-tut. When the Cult Leader so graciously summons, would the Vice Cult Leader dare refuse?"

I sat the hesitantly shuffling Seong Gaeul down in the chair and wrapped her up in a back hug. From her uncharacteristically stiff body drifted a cool, sweet fragrance. I'd told her to help herself to whatever she needed from the perfumes that came out of our sweep of the Lotte Department Store, so it was probably one of those. A smile came to me naturally at the image the scent painted. The fragrance itself was already pure Seong Gaeul.

"What am I supposed to do with you deflating all of a sudden like that."

"...I'm not deflated."

"Tut-tut. I can see it plain as day, so spare me the lies."

I ground my chin firmly into the crown of her head.

"Uuuugh― quit rubbing and get off!"

Laughing at her hands shoving my chin away in disgust, I spoke again. And squeezed her body even tighter.

"The item that will make you into that special existence."

"Don't you worry about a thing. The Vice Cult Leader of the cult that will swallow South Korea whole—an ordinary person? I would never make you anything so plain."

Having said my piece, I buried my face in her nape and sniffed—no reaction whatsoever. The woman who hadn't stirred so much as a muscle while I drank in her sweet scent suddenly flung her head back and smacked my chest.

"Unbelievable! Now you're even turning it on the person who taught you!"

"Why? Am I not allowed?"

At the prickly reaction of the Seong Gaeul back to her usual self, I pulled her in deeper still.

"...They say the student surpasses the teacher, but I've never seen it this shameless."

"Hm? What was that?"

"...Forget it. Everyone's watching—could you not be so embarrassingly pathetic about it...."

Lack Identification swept across the crown of the grumbling Seong Gaeul's head.

The ten-percent line of defense had crumbled. She didn't have much farther to go before she was made pure.